Putin Statement Following Russian-Belarusian Talks With Lukashenko

We would like to brief you on the results of our work. And there are results. We have agreed that we shall settle all our contentious issues on oil and gas, actually, we did not agree, we settled them. We agreed on how and when we are going to do that. We shall do it within ten days.

We have found an arrangement whereby we maintain our approaches, harmonise our stances on prices. We have found an opportunity for mutual trade-offs, agreed on how we will operate in this area not just in 2017 but also in 2018 and 2019. We have reiterated our commitment to set up by July 2019 the necessary rules, foundational rules and conditions on creating a united market of electric power, general conditions and rules. We gave reiterated our readiness to do our best to draft joint rules for the united gas market by January 1, 2018, and by 2024 to draft and sign an intergovernmental agreement within the Eurasian Economic Union on a single gas market.

We spent a lot of time discussing cooperation in finance, in some particular areas of the economy, in high-tech areas, and finished with the possibility of expanding our joint work in space.

We spoke at length on cooperation in agriculture. I asked the Government of the Russian Federation for our specialists to go to Belarus this week and work with their colleagues at the enterprises that aroused suspicion regarding compliance with our phytosanitary standards.

I believe these are the issues that are being resolved in the course of our joint practical work in the spirit that has evolved between our countries over the many years since the signing of the agreement on the formation of the Union State.

Let me remind you that yesterday we marked the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus, and this year we also mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations. So there are no outstanding issues as of today. We will move on, we will keep enhancing allied relations within the Union State and work on the legal framework, and on the development of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Thank you.

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